Small Steps Away From Recidivism (Simile)
Before returning to Austin from Camp Green Lake, Armpit stays in a halfway house. The counselor at the halfway house tells the group of boys that the recidivism rate for African-American boys is high, and uses the simile "life will be like walking upstream in a rushing river" to compare how it will feel to face the difficulties life throws at them while people also expect the worst from them. She shares that the key is to take small steps forward, and if they take too big a step the current will knock them off their feet and carry them downstream (p. 4). Taking small steps becomes Armpit's personal manifesto and tool against recidivism and toward redemption. He sets the goal of taking small steps upon returning to Austin from Camp Green Lake and from California.
Like the City Was Air-Conditioned (Simile)
When Armpit lands in San Francisco, he notices that the heat is less “oppressive” than the heat in Texas. He notices the air feels different in California and that there is a freshness that differs from the stale, stagnant, oppressive heat in Texas. Armpit remarks that he feels he's entered a whole new world and that San Francisco feels "like the whole city was air-conditioned" (p. 213). This simile supports the idea that Amrpit has left what he knows and has entered a whole different world, a world in which it isn't oppressively hot in July, where he stays in a hotel that looks like a palace, and where no one calls him Armpit.
Armpit's Prison at Home (Metaphor)
When Armpit returns home from Camp Green Lake, his parents are determined to keep him from ruining his life the way his brother has. They make him take drug tests upon entering his home despite his having no history of abusing drugs, and they expect the worst of him. After Armpit's night with Ginny at the Kaira DeLeon concert, Ginny tells her mom everything, but because Armpit's parents hound him as soon as he enters the door, he knows the refrain from sharing information with them. Sachar uses the metaphor that Armpit "didn't tell them anything except his name, rank, and serial number" (p.135) to liken Armpit's time at home to time in a disciplinary or military setting, like prison or barracks. Armpit's parents are more like prison guards than parents because of their fear of losing their son to the prison system, but because of this, they don't see him for who he is.
Kaira's Perception of Aileen (Simile)
When Kaira learns that her stepfather is having an affair with her travel tour coordinator, she's confused. She sees Aileen as someone who's good at her job and has gone above and beyond for her. She describes how she sees Aileen by comparing her to a cell phone: “She was stylish, efficient, and compact, like a cell phone”(p. 73). Kaira has trouble understanding how someone with good taste like Aileen would end up being with someone like El Genius. Through this use of simile we understand Kaira's confusion, and also see her starting to suspect that there is something else at play in Aileen's relationship with El Genius.
Armpit Takes Too Big a Step (Metaphor)
When Armpit is walking back to the hotel in San Francisco after a public blowout with Kaira, he reflects on his life so far. He uses the small steps metaphor the counselor at the halfway house told him to explain his situation: "He has tried to take too big a step, and the current had knocked him off his feet and was washing him away." (p. 234)
Armpit recognizes he's in trouble, and it's because he let his life be swept up by the forces of Kaira's world. This use of metaphor puts Armpit's ultimate goal of redemption into focus, and how easy it's been for him to be on the brink of slipping back into recidivism.
